Message-ID: <9505051036.AA20731@cr-df.rnp.br> Date: Fri, 5 May 1995 07:36:17 EST From: Companheiros das Americas <mailto:poa-bsb@CR-DF.RNP.BR> Subject: Farmer-to-Farmer US/Brazil program To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L
Dear friends:
During two days (April 24 and 25), around 40 people (half Americans,
half Brazilians) met (in a hotel in Ipanema, Rio) to discuss about the
introduction of the Farmer-to-Farmer program in Brazil.
As you know, the F-t-F is a Partners' program, funded by the American
Congress, to help Latin America (and Caribbean) to increase the level
of local agriculture's quality and quantity. And - no doubt - this is fine.
The program began some years ago, including an increasing number
of partnerships. Now "they" decided that is the turn of Brazil to join.
Fine. I think Brazil is the tenth Latin-American-and-Caribbean country
to join, and, in this meeting, we had maybe (I am not sure) 12 or 14
Brazilian committees, represented each by one person or two people.
Each Brazilian state committee was along with the representative
(just one) invited from the respective American partner section.
In this meeting, we Brazilians (and some Americans, as soon
you will understand) were introduced to the program fundamentals
and methodology. The explanations were conduced by Anabella Bruch -
the young agronomist fairy director of the Program, and by a special
guest-consultant, Dewey, with a lot of practice from a successful
F-t-F project (on bees), developed there are some years by the
Delaware-Panama partnership. Besides the explanations and reports,
we were often invited to improve the design of the project each
partnership was inclined to actually develop. And so they did, and
many projects - till them mere ideas - gained a format very well
conceived, able to make easier to reach our goals.
A detail. The program's main feature is to bring North-American
experts to L.-A. and C., to help with any important aspect perceived
as critical for the local project's accomplishment. This expert
(identified by the North committee) could be a real farmer or a
scholar or maybe a 4-H retired leader, or even a skillful academic
trainee, would come to spend two or three weeks helping objectively
to fulfill a demanding from the local project. These experts always
come on a volunteer basis - the program just pays the travel basic
expenses. The host committee, the local farmers, organizations,
cooperatives and universities provide local resources to the volunteer's
work. The defined goals must be fulfilled.
I was in trouble, because I had not a partner for myself (from our
American section D.C.), and so I had nobody to objectively discuss
with about our common project - the section of Brasilia (capital of
Brazil) is developing a program of community gardens including
income generation and civic-environmental education. The American
partner invited and confirmed to come, didn't for unforeseen and
serious reasons. So, I was there just as an observer, paying my
own travel Brasilia-Rio-Brasilia (by bus) and hosted at my parents
house, near Ipanema (in Copacabana).
I am convinced that the Program is and will be even more important
as it links the two greatest agricultural areas of the Americas - among
the greatest even in a worldwide scene! And I want to declare:
I enjoyed it and learned a lot there (as usual, with you Americans).
But (always a but...) I would like to make some comments, with my
best intentions, just to empower - I hope - our common work and
to bring closer our objectives:
1. As the program just previews visits from the North to the South,
and always to bring American knowledge and experience to help
us, we may wonder if our problems are due to the lack of knowledge
and/or experience about our agricultural issues. You may believe me,
they aren't. Maybe this is true in other smaller or poorer L.-A. and C
countries, but here we have a lot of agronomists, scientists,
biologists, extensionists, researchers and agronomic colleges and
schools. What is missing is a political change in the way the Govern
deals with the rural problems. The way the commercial-urban culture
sees the rural producers and the way the economic system pays for
theirs products. Who knows a Land Reform is the main Brazilian
problem, since the colonization, when a Portuguese king divided all
the huge Brazilian territory in 24 huge farms and gave to 24 friends
of him to explore our country with their slaves? Of course we need
your experience and knowledge, but imagine for a while if you
would not profit too by inviting Brazilian researchers and
extensionists to visit your farmers and help them with their problems.
2. If an American expert comes to Brazil and spend three weeks
visiting many farms, agriculture colleges, cooperatives, discussing
about our problems, seeing our lands, our soils, our crops, our
livestock, testifying our solutions and our doubts, how much would
he learn from this? And how much will learn each Brazilian producer
who will be with this American just some hours during this travel of
his/hers?
Ok, the program will follow-up here, with close monitoring and
helping from Washington and from the local committee and other
in-site support organizations. But, of course, the Americans also
learn a lot, a kind of knowledge they know will be decisive in the near
future. Yes, I think that Brazilian Congress should pay for our
farmers and researcher go to the States to "help" you too.
3. The very different climate-soil-vegetation-population systems,
in Brazil and in the US, make more difficult the technological
transference from you to us. Perhaps we are closer culturally than
ecologically. (have you ever thought that?)
4. What kind of technology would be transferred? More American
chemicals? I read (few hours ago) that, because of the stabilization
of the economy, our consumption of agrotoxical products increased
47% over the same month last year's consume. This mean that the
pollution over our country's soil will also increase 47% and the food
sold to the population 47% more poisoned. The newspaper stated
this number as an auspicious information.
To keep closer to the facts, in this meeting, an American expert
and his Brazilian partners (Virginia-Santa Catarina) defined as their
project's goal to put down the incidence of mastitis (an inflammation
in the cows' udder) in a region of small farmers in Santa Catarina.
I didn't ask, but I could have argued: what kind of medicine would
he suggest to heal these cows? Some chemical? More commercial
shopping? What about to heal the cows with a more natural
nourishment and healthier way of life?
Last Monday, the biggest Brazilian newspaper (Folha de Sao Paulo),
in its rural section, published an article (whole first-page) about an
agronomist from Brasilia, Joe Valle (I know him) very well succeeded
with his 25 cows raised just with natural feeding and herbal medicine.
To heal mastite (seldom he needs, because the cows are very healthy in
their pastures without herbicides) he uses belladonna pills. Joe calls
"green" the milk he sells, and of course he gets a better price for its
quality. The only conventional drugs he uses are the vaccines against
brucelosis, aphthoid fever and tuberculosis (he is legally constrained to).
I will stop here, although I had a lot more of things to analyze with you.
I hope we will have an opportunity to do this at live, here or there. Maybe
with the next Fellows group. Good morning, Bill. Have a nice day, BB.
Soon I will report the lunch I had today, with three officers from the
American Embassy and Jose Ivan, my friend who is trying to settle
the first social bank in Brasilia - maybe in Brazil, and about what
I have found in Internet about this matter. Thanks, Sorry, and Bye.